Metropolitan State College’s board of trustees is going to keep us in suspense a little longer.
We won’t know for at least another month what the Denver campus will be named in the future, because Thursday the board voted not to vote on a new name yet.
We do know, however, which name the 2,520 students, faculty, alumni and staff prefer: Metropolitan State University of Denver. In a second survey, in which that front-runner name was not a choice, the favorite was Denver Metropolitan State University.
Clearer than what survey-takers like, though, is what they don’t like: The name Denver State Metropolitan University — which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue — came in last in both surveys and easily clinched top honors in the “most strongly opposed” category in both the three-name survey and the four-name survey.
The surveys were conducted throughout November, and the four new name choices were Denver Metropolitan State University, Metropolitan Denver State University, Denver State Metropolitan University and Metropolitan State University of Denver.
The trustees will wait at least 30 days before potentially voting on a new name.
They did outline four principles to uphold as the search for a new name continues: replace “college” with “university,” keep “Metropolitan” in the name, have “Denver” in the first or second position in the name, and minimize potential trademark litigation.
The top vote-getting name, Metropolitan State University of Denver, violates the third of those four criteria.
Earlier this year, the college decided to rename itself Denver State University, but that choice drew howls of protest from the University of Denver.
So Metro State went back to the drawing board. The college still hopes to have a new name in place by 2013.
In fact, a bill for legislative approval for the name change has already been drafted for the upcoming session. “And when the board approves a name, it will be inserted into the draft,” according to a statement released by Metro State.
Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com
